Heroin hits Utah's young

A drug with a long, ugly history in the United States seems to be making a comeback in Utah.

But this time, heroin isn't just affecting the stereotypical junkie — a homeless person with no teeth and needle marks all over his arms. Instead, it's becoming a drug of choice for the teenage boy or girl next door who excels in school and appears to come from a stable home.

"It's an epidemic with what we've seen — young, middle- to upper-class kids," said Taylorsville Police Sgt. Keith Stephens. "Salt Lake has turned into a mecca of cheap, low-grade heroin."

Arrest statistics wouldn't support the notion of an increasing drug problem among teens, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Shane Hudson, the supervisor of the department's school programs.

Instead, the most public indicator may be the young faces found in the pages of the newspaper, either in the police news or the obituaries.

Since March 11, the Deseret Morning News has counted at least five cases of teenagers or young adults dying from suspected drug overdoses. Four of those incidents happened during a three-week period beginning in mid-June:

• Zachary Tyler Martinez, 18, died of a drug overdose March 11.

• A 19-year-old Cottonwood Heights resident was found dead June 15. Deputies found the man on his bed. On his night stand they found "a small wad of paper with a black gooey-looking substance in it" and "a syringe with blood on the needle" in the night stand drawer, according to a Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office report.

• A 17-year-old South Salt Lake girl was found dead of an apparent drug overdose June 26 while working at a veterinary clinic. An autopsy report was still pending.

• Amelia Anne Sorich, 18, died June 27 after allegedly taking a fatal dose of cocaine and heroin, also known as a speedball.

• A 17-year-old Salt Lake City boy died in early July. Police could not comment on the case because it involved a juvenile. The boy's obituary, however, requested donations be made to www.theantidrug.com, a Web site designed to help parents talk to their children about drug use.

"We're starting to see a younger crowd starting to experiment with hard-core drugs than what we're used to," Salt Lake City police Sgt. Ryan Atack said. "It's disturbing. People would be surprised how bad of a drug problem we have."